Fine jewelry will highlight John Moran Auctioneers’ May 17, 2011 Antiques and Fine Art Auction, a two-session sale of over 300 lots. An attractive opportunity to acquire antique and vintage pieces at all price levels, Moran’s semi-annual jewelry sale presents hundreds of carefully selected lots consigned directly from private collections and estates. Alongside the array of jewelry, which will also include signed items from top designers and costume pieces, buyers will find choice silver, art glass, Continental porcelain, rugs and European and American paintings.
The top jewelry lots are headlined by a 5.50 carats cushion-cut natural Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring. The rarest and most desirable of all sapphires, those from Kashmir were mined for only a short time, primarily in the decade of the 1880’s. Moran’s is offering this ring for $40,000 – 60,000. Other top pieces are an Edwardian 2.5 carats Columbian emerald and diamond ring that is expected to earn $20,000 – 30,000, and a lovely vintage diamond and platinum ring centering a full-cut round, E-color diamond weighing 3.55 carats, flanked by 4 marquise and two full-cut round diamonds, estimated to bring $25,000 – 35,000. A fancy intense yellow diamond ring will be offered for $10,000 – 15,000.
Edwardian pieces continue to enjoy a devoted following, and Moran’s is offering several other pieces dating from that era. Among them are a platinum-topped yellow gold and diamond garland necklace with entwined floral and ribbon motifs in a lacey design typical of the period. Set with 226 single and full-cut Old European-cut diamonds, it is offered for $5000 – 7000. Offered for $2500 – 3500 is a pair of platinum seed pearl and diamond ear pendants?, each suspending an oval-cut sapphire.
Collectors will also find Victorian pieces, including a circa-1880 9.9 carat oval-cut sapphire and pearl brooch (estimate: $8000 – 12,000), Art Deco rings and bracelets, and designs by David Webb, Buccellati, David Yurman, Hermes, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier. Bakelite costume jewelry is offered with estimates ranging from $300 – 700.
Fine art offerings include some particularly desirable 19th century works, prominently among them a large (43 x 68 inches) oil by Vittorio Reggianini (1858-1939 Italy) that typifies his preference for depictions of well-dressed ladies in lighthearted pursuits. In this case a laughing woman feeding birds as she reclines on a chaise longue. The work is offered for $70,000 – 90,000. A watercolor of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem by Carl Friedrich Werner (1808 – 1894 Germany), estimated at $40,000 – 60,000, is nicely representative of the Orientalist painters’ fascination with contrasts of color and texture and their attention to minutely rendered detail.
The large selection of decorative arts items is distinguished by an impressive selection of glass and porcelain gathered from local estates. Vases by Galle, Delphin Massier, Mont Joye / Le Gras, Tiffany, and Loetz, as well as 40 pieces Saint Louis ‘Stella Gold’ stemware divided among 4 lots, are among the items that are expected to attract highly competitive bidding.
Nineteenth century porcelain offerings also abound, led by a pair of Chinese vases mounted in French ormolu Rococo mounts (estimate: $5000 – 7000); a pair of Louis XVI style ormolu jardinières, stamped Masselotte (estimate: $4000 – 6000); a Berlin KPM plaque depicting Queen Louise, after Wagner (estimate: $4000 – 6000); and several pieces of Meissen, including a tureen-form box and cover after J.J. Kandler, modeled after the Kronung Service (estimate: $3000 – 5000).
Following up on their highly successful sale of antique rugs in March, Moran’s is pleased to offer another superlative selection which includes an Indo-Persian Agra wool carpet, circa 1880, with central stylized central floral medallion with radiating Safavid medallions on a deep red and blue ground, offered for $5000 – 7000, and an 1880’s Caucasian Shirvan portrait rug depicting a princess flanked by two guard figures (estimate: $5000 – 7000).
Silver will comprise a large section of both sale sessions, and will include Persian, American, German and 18th and 19th century British items. A collection of late 19th and early 20th century Russian pieces includes, among other items, a cased vodka set (estimate: $2000 – 3000) and three silver, diamond and ruby animal figures (estimates: $400 – 700).
Continental bronzes, prints, furniture, clocks, and watches complete the sale, along with the best eclectic gatherings from estates and collections, such as a large group of walking sticks of various materials incorporating many novel features, and two wonderful pieces of 19th century chip-carved tramp art- a miniature dresser and dressing mirror.
John Moran Auctioneers’ May 17th sale will be conducted at the Pasadena Convention Center at 300 East Green Street in Pasadena, CA. The afternoon Discovery Sale, an un-catalogued, no-reserve auction open to floor and absentee bidding only, will begin at 2pm PST. The fully catalogued Evening Session will begin at 6pm PST. Floor, absentee, telephone, and live internet bidding is available for the Evening Session. Internet bidding is hosted at Artfact.com.
Full sale catalogues are posted at www.johnmoran.com 2 -3 weeks prior to each sale. For more information, please contact John Moran Auctioneers at [email protected] or call 626-793-1833.